Double your failure rate, said Tom Watson, CEO of IBM

Double your failure rate.

Why would anyone want to fail in the first place?

Well, let's face it. To build a business, there are many things that need to get done:

1. Administrative tasks.
2. Building relationships.
3. Developing or choosing products/services to promote.
4. Where/when to advertise.
5. Budget decisions that impact everything we do.
6. Doing it ourselves or outsourcing.

And many other things.

These are all questions of time and money. How much of the former vs the latter is a never ending part of our business lives. There are relationships that will look awesome at first, but turn out to be disappointments. The opposite is true. Some campaigns will work, and you will need to find out what were the factors that made a difference, to repeat the success.

Selling is an art and a science. It takes time, determination, planning, organization. It also requires courage and patience. A lot of patience. One more thing we have to acknowledge is that we will fail many times. The prospect will seem interested, but won't buy. Or he will ask for a refund later on.

An IBM sales person asked Tom Watson, the IBM CEO at the time, what he needed to do to get better results. Watson simply answered: "Double your failure rate." Which meant to put fears aside, to go out there and find new customers as much as possible.

That's the essence of professionalism. To keep going, no matter what. At the end of the day, you'll be glad you did. So, if/when you feel discouraged because things didn't work out as planned, remember these simple words:

"Double your failure rate."